Roland was quite happy with his release from the hospital, especially with the full confirmation and recognition of the sorts of feelings that he and Sophie had had. He'd always had to admit, privately, that she was rather cute and that had driven him forward to essentially ask her out the previous Valentines Day. His parents had approved of the match and felt it to be a good idea to help give Animalia some positive outlook, which at times, it would need.
As while physically, Animalians, regardless of their specific species, were quite perfect in how they were built. There seemed to be no flaw in their muscles or how attractive they looked. In that there was plenty to be envious of. But despite appearances that didn't mean there were potential problems and issues they'd had to deal with. Things looked perfect, but when looking closer, those sorts of imperfections actually appeared.
To a great extent the biggest potential issue was with humans converting over to Animalians and adapting to gaining that animal's base instincts. Even some uplifted animals couldn't always fully suppress those instincts. More often than not it manifested in some tone of voice that reflected some mood or physical moves that displayed skittishness or some other interest, which Abby and Samson had both relayed at times during the IAC when in close competition with predatory Animalians, like Durga. The worst case of that sort of thing had obviously been Heather's mind being flooded with predatory instincts that fed her anger at her scheme in Costa Rica being uncovered, thus leading to her attack on him and Sophie on the first day of school for their Sophomore year.
There was also concerns on education, as many uplifted Animals didn't always have the schooling needed to function in human society without help. The uplifting process had greatly improved that, and some naturally intelligent animals, like dogs, wolves, apes, and dolphins seemed to have gained a lot from it. And even other animals gained a lot based on what they may have overheard before they were uplifted. In many ways that was something of a mystery of the Animalia Virus and one that Horizon's scientists theorized on, but had no clear explanation for yet. That said, there was still issue of making sure that Animalians could be educated to a point where many human concepts wouldn't pass completely overhead, thus the "remedial program" that Horizon ran just after the outbreak and helped Animalians like Samson, who where not quite as intellectual as others. This then progressed into the WSA that was being operated for all Animalians living in Lyre or Animalia.
And at times that sort of issues that stemmed more from Animalia's lack of familiarity with human society at times did create some issues, such as the debate that went on over the concept of open enrollment for WSA and who would be allowed there. The idea had been to provide Animalians, which could be much bigger than humans, especially if they were double dosed, with a school they could go to where the larger Animalians weren't trying to fit themselves into spaces built for humans. In a way it was a good idea, but as Sophie had pointed out, the reasoning was faulty, particularly when WSA announced it would allow a policy of "open enrollment." In theory, such a policy would allow ANYONE living close enough to Animalia to apply if they wished to, and "not being an Animalian" wouldn't fit as an acceptable reason not to accept the enrollment application. But the initial policy for students had been that WSA was for Animalians only, which had upset Sophie for fear losing Abby and the others and not being able to be with them and from the fact that to her the policy amounted to segregation and ignored the progress made at showing how well Animalians and Humans could operate together. It took Heather's attack and the revelation to Clara that because so many of Lyre's students had either been caught in the initial outbreaks or willingly joined Animalia that the Lyre was expected to close its school district completely at the end of the present school year to get a change of plan that would effectively reintegrate the districts again... though that would take some time to do in terms of getting additional buildings and infrastructure put in place. But the debate in and of itself did represent some of their problems that were there.
There were also issues with specific resources and construction time. Animalia as a town had been built quickly, but at that time there had been a LOT of companies that brought in materials to help, particularly as they seemed to see investment opportunities and some architecture design firms were curious at how good Animalians like the uplifted Beavers could build and adapt to human styles of architecture. And some places, like Mieni were able to simply adapt preexisting structures that had been kept in good shape which thus cut down on construction time. However, ideas for other colonies and the fact that the colony to be established in the Amazon HADN'T been kept in perfect condition meant that there would be a lot of work that would be needed to be done and would be on a infrastructure system that wouldn't make the logistics of the building programs easy. The fact that the hotel being converted into Animalia Amazonia was still under construction was a sign of that. It might be at a point where the first colonists could move in, but from what Roland had seen in emails, there was still a LOT of work going on. In a way, this was a sort of problem that just about any organization had would have.
And sometimes there were issues with the size of some Animalians. Particularly when they were first uplifted or converted, usually related to balance issues, but they could also have issues with structures built for beings much smaller than them. Roland remembered seeing the uplifted elephants and those who became elephants feel cramped and constrained at Lyre High, as the building had been built well before Horizon even considered establishing a lab in Animalia. That was a big part in why WSA was built, but it didn't mean that it wasn't a problem Animalia and Animalians still had to confront.
These issues that Animalians were confronted with might seem mundane and could be seen as "monotonous" when that was what they were moving to overcome, but in many ways that was how a lot of real life struggles went. If one were to write a story about the life of an average person going about their day to day life, it would not be filled with sinister villains plotting in the shadows and the person either doing extraordinary detective work or actually fighting the villain to stop the diabolical scheme. Such a story would inherently be about a non-average person, and to a great extent, despite their bodies, Animalians were looking to live average and normal lives.
About their only real "human" opponent was the present government and the man elected President of the United States, but even there, one couldn't exactly expect Animalia to act like it was a Robin Hood story and undermine the government through illegal means, even if it was in the name of justice. The stories of Robin Hood made that sort of thing exciting and that someone could do something like that, but in real life that sort of thing didn't happen. Industrial workers before the Progressive Era reforms once went on strike to demand better wages. The bosses hired Pinkerton detectives who went in and shot up the protesters, killing several and arresting the rest on the "crime" of "not working." In this, Roland knew that Animalia had to walk a very tight rope with regard to arguing for its rights and so on. It couldn't fight the government as though it was some corrupt institution in a movie or comic book plot. The real world didn't work that way, and if they tried it, all they would do would be to give people like "ih8ulibs" fuel to argue for draconian punishments ON Animalia.
About the best way Animalia had to oppose that sort of thing was Animalia Ambassadoria, which was intended as a sort of "news" program. The episodes were never scripted to tell a "story." It served as a news program to essentially help advertise Animalia and the good it could do, or at least provide enough positive exposure help build positive support around it and prevent people like "ih8ulibs" from dominating the discussion. This meant showing a lot of the positives and what was going good for Animalia. There were some episodes that dealt with some of the more negative things, such as Heather's attack and the consequences of it, but a lot of that was to also serve that that incident was the exception to the rule and not the rule itself.
"And yet some people think we're telling a story and are fighting supervillains," Roland thought as he finished packing his bags to head out.
His release from the hospital had included the clearance to travel and he looked forward to being with his friends again for these sorts of adventures. Having them visit him in the hospital had been nice, and being there for Heather's last punishment was fun, but it didn't really cover the ability to show what was good and great about Animalia. It showed what everyone could do when they worked together and went through life's daily troubles together... they could accomplish great things.
"You ready, champ?" he heard his father's voice from the door outside his room.
"Pretty much," Roland answered, "though fall break isn't going to be very long... So... I got some clothes, bug spray... and obviously some of the backed up homework that I'd missed."
Lyre High had credited his absences from school as "accepted" as there was no way he could have expected Heather to attack him and Sophie, but that didn't mean he'd get out of the homework that he missed. Thankfully, though, he was given time to catch up on it, and he planned work with Sophie on that on the flight from Lyre to Brazil. He figured that even if he didn't get it all done, he'd at least get a good chunk of it done.
"Good," his father gave a smile, "wouldn't want to fall behind."
"Technically that already happened," Roland chuckled, "Sophie brought me my assignments when she could... but while I was recovering in the hospital it wasn't like I could go through all of them."
"I know," his father answered, "she's been a good friend for you."
"More than that, dad," Roland felt himself blush a bit, "I think... I think I really do love her."
"Your mother and I could see that when you were released from the hospital," his father replied, "sitting close together... smiling... it was in many ways how your mother and I dated and found each other... Granted we didn't find each other until we were in college, but still..."
Roland watched his father shrug and gesture out toward the hallway. He was glad that his parents approved of his dating Sophie and was beyond surprised when both had accepted the idea to converting before turning eighteen one night at dinner. Of course, Roland had found out that the reason had related to Sophie. If Sophie was allowed to change, his parents would accept him changing to be with her, as they were both supportive of him dating Sophie. In that, Roland felt he had some good luck there. He'd still have to wait until the coming summer when they had more information ready for Project Dinotopia's unveiling, but that was closer than his eighteenth birthday.
"Well... she's really something, dad," Roland told his father, "she really is."
"I'm sure," his father replied with a warm smile, "I'm just glad to see you happy with someone."
And with that the two headed out toward Lyre's small airport to join the rest of the Animalia Ambassadoria team for the journey for the return to the Amazon colony. It might not be the grand story of fighting some supervillain, but then, life wasn't supposed to be about battling supervillains. That only happened in cartoons. Animalia Ambassadoria's job was essentially to provide the sort of coverage that would show the good that Animalia could do.